Giant "retail destination" coming to Kingsland, GA

[reednavy]

Wonder what this may mean for stores/malls along the First Coast and the shoppers they attract. However, we'll see if this ever comes to fruition.

http://jacksonville.com/2010-03-30/story/giant-retail-destination-near-i-95-aims-draw-jacksonville-shoppers-georgia

The developers of a giant shopping center designed to draw Jacksonville shoppers to Kingsland, Ga., say they’ve figured out a formula for pulling in visitors from surrounding states.

The development, described by the company as a “retail destination,” could have as many as 6,000 employees. It would include a mix of department stores and specialty shops, according to Dave Claflin, vice president of marketing for RED Development of Kansas City, Mo.

[Tripoli1711]

Sounds like an outlet mall on steroids to me..

[redglittercoffin]

They already get this Jacksonville shopper (pointing at myself with two thumbs) -- they tempted me with Fat Tire

[hanjin1]

I'll believe it when i see it. of course if i do see it, ill be there

[copperfiend]

Why do I get the feeling this will be filed under "Proposed" for a while?

[St. Auggie]

Will it have a Macy's?

Sorry, couldnt resist.

[Overstreet]

Reminds me of a St JOE scheme and dream I heard about five years ago. That would be wonderfull with ten years of work. It shut down after two years.

I know an architect/developer that had tried to do some outlet malls in that south GA area. They could never get the performa could never get to be quite right.

They quote 6,000 jobs. You know there is only 13,000 people in Kingsland. I suspect many of them are Navy from Kings Bay. Not enough to support that monster with employees or customers. They are depending heavily on the I-95 travelors. The northside folks might drive up there, but they'd likely pass by the center at the Duval Road/Airport to get there and stop after the first couple of times.

Phase one would be good to get 600 jobs.

[Coolyfett]

Why not just put it in Jax?? I mean Kingsbay?? people have to DRIVE all the way there? more sprawl?? Put it IN Jax not Near Jax.

[reednavy]

Kingsland/St. Mary's is technically it's own micropolitan area, and could support "some" retail, but not just them alone.

It would draw from the overall SE GA market including the St. Mary's MSA, Brunswick, and Waycross. All of those listed have to drive to either Savannah or down here to get your traditional mall shops like what is found at The Avenues, SJTC, and Regency Square.

At the same time though, that area is not very wealthy overall, say outside of the Sea Islands and some scattered areas. Heavily relying on travelers is not a very good plan, look at the outlet mall in Darien in McIntosh County, just north of Brunswick.

[Sportmotor]

Will it have a Macy's?

Sorry, couldnt resist.

Glad someone got to it before me

[Joe]

Seems like a fantasy plan to me.

Kings Bay is about the same distance from downtown as the St Augustine Outlets - about 35 miles either way on I-95. So the distance isn't really an issue.

What's confusing to me is that Camden County has the same 6% sales tax rate as St. Johns County. Either way, the different between Duval's 7% rate is going to be negligible for a consumer's decision to go there. It seems like there's just no competitive advantage ... so why build it? Couple that with the fact that Jax is still a relatively small metro which basically already has two outlet malls. I'm not sure Jax's demographics could support a 3rd one, let alone a mega-one.

[Ocklawaha]

Well the development company has a track record of major successes, but the line that says they're, "not sure yet about the Georgia Location," rather puts it in question.  Personally now that we have the River City Marketplace I wish someone would locate a center like this at the Shipyards site, LaVilla, or out on the Westside. Our Westside and urban core are about the most overlooked locations in the sunbelt.

If they DO go into Kingsland, they almost guarantee our North Commuter Rail will someday terminate there. In fact if the developers, Kingsland, Georgia, Development Authority's and JTA would just be a bit vocal about our rail plan, we might find a ready partner to fast track the whole project. 1.3 Million people with a direct rail link right to the door of the mall couldn't be bad for business.


OCKLAWAHA

[CS Foltz]

I think I will wait and see what takes place............I have reservations about a super mall so close yet so far away! As was pointed out, the difference between sales tax in Jax and sales tax there is not worth the trip to get to there!

[tufsu1]

Why not just put it in Jax?? I mean Kingsbay?? people have to DRIVE all the way there? more sprawl?? Put it IN Jax not Near Jax.

uh...because the state of GEORGIA is the one offering the tax breaks!

[stjr]

The T-U scooped British Shoe's (BS) birdie?